by Rachel Magee
An almost full moon lit the night sky in front of her as she rounded the building for the stairs that lead to the beach. True, it wasn’t what she was coming to see, but she stopped to admire the sight anyway. It was a perfect night.
A warm breeze blew past, sending her full skirt fluttering behind her as she stepped slowly down each weathered, wooden step toward the beach. She probably should have been thinking up some sort of game plan, or at the very least, some idea of what she wanted to accomplish during this moonlight meeting with the man she might be in love with. Instead, with every step closer to the sand, she let go of her control. Her fears and worries floated away on the wind, until she stopped on the final step.
Here she was. Forever stretched out before her in a soft darkness. It wasn’t as defined as she normally would’ve liked it to be. In the darkness, the inky waves seemed to blend seamlessly into the velvety sky. She’d never been a fan of vagueness, yet here there was a certain beauty to it.
She sunk down onto the final step, her toes dug into the cool sand, and she pulled her phone out of her clutch.
She sucked in a deep breath, letting the calmness of the night filter through her before she opened the text message from Brody.
Give us a chance, babe. We were happy before and now that I’m back, we’ll be happy again.
Had they been happy? She would be the first to admit they’d been happy enough, but was that the same thing as happy? She’d imagined life with Brody would be good, but this weekend she’d started wondering if there was something better.
“You waiting for me?” The familiar lazy drawl floated around her like a warm hug. She closed her eyes and breathed it in before she opened them to look up at the dark form walking toward her. The silvery light of the moon lit his crooked grin and ignited something inside her.
“A trek in the darkness by yourself? I wanted to make sure you made it.” She barely recognized the husky voice that floated into the darkness, but it didn’t seem to faze Aiden, who stopped right in front of her and leaned on the railing.
“I hear your part of Operation Wedding Weekend was successful. Are congratulations in order?”
“Nothing has been finalized yet.” She left off the part that she was the one holding things up.
“I guess you do still have one roadblock in the way. Even fake relationships have to come to an end. Is that why you’re waiting for me? Is this our break-up moment?” He chuckled at his own joke, but she realized that was exactly why she was there. She needed to know if a relationship with Aiden was even a possibility.
“Something like that.”
“I’m usually on the other side of this conversation, but it’s always good to embrace new experiences.” He straightened up, circled his shoulders and few times and stretched his neck from side to side. “Okay, I’m ready. Lay it on me.” He braced himself as if waiting for a punch to the gut.
“Seriously? You’ve never been dumped?”
He rubbed his jaw with one hand. “Maybe once in junior high, but she did it in a note her friend gave me. I’m not sure it counts.”
“If you’re such the expert on being the breaker-upper, maybe you should do it.”
“In that case…” He pulled his phone out of his pocket. The bright screen lit up his playful face and something inside her soared. How did this happen? How did she let herself fall in love with Aiden Pierce?
A smirk tugged on the corner of his mouth and he said the words aloud as he typed a message. “Thanks for the memories but we’re over.” He pressed send and then looked up to meet her eyes. The phone in her hand dinged, but she didn’t bother reading the message. She didn’t want it to be over.
“Classy,” she joked, trying to keep the mood light. But she didn’t feel light. She felt heavy and a knot twisted in the pit of her stomach.
Aiden gave a nonchalant shrug. “I know.” He dropped his phone back in his pocket. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, you’ve got nothing holding you back.”
“Guess not.” Maybe their fake relationship was no longer standing in her way, but there was still something holding her back. It was a problem she didn’t anticipate, and now that she found herself here, she wasn’t sure how to solve it. Or even if it could be solved. Love would be so much easier if it just played by the rules.
Aiden sank down onto the step next to her. “It has been quite the weekend.” He squeezed her knee in a friendly way and then his hand lingered there. The sea grass on the hill behind them rustled in the warm breeze.
“It has.” The waves rolled into the shore and she let the memories of the past few days roll through her. In theory, this whole weekend with Aiden had been a fabrication. Merely an illusion created for other people to see. At the end of it, she was supposed to be able to walk away without a problem because there wasn’t really anything to walk away from. There shouldn’t have been anything to miss.
But it didn’t matter what theory said; she was going to miss this. Maybe even a lot.
“Brody’s a lucky man,” Aiden said.
She replayed the words from his text in her mind. They were to the point but not exactly swoon-worthy. “Let’s hope he feels the same way.”
“He’d be a fool not to.” Aiden removed his hand from her knee and settled it in his lap. The distance between them seemed to grow along with the dull ache in her chest.
She sat there next to him in silence until she found the nerve to ask the one question she came there to ask. “Is there any reason I shouldn’t do this?”
She held her breath while she waited for him to respond. He was still for a second, so still that she almost regretted asking the question, but then he looked up. His gaze met hers with a look that made the air between them crackle.
She hadn’t imagined it. There was something very real between them, and from the way he looked at her, he felt it, too. The realization tingled through her.
But the attraction between them wasn’t what was in question here. In her heart of hearts she knew he felt the same way. The way he held her, the way he looked at her, the way he made her feel when it was just the two of them, with no one else watching. Whatever was happening between them was real, at least for right now.
The problem was that Aiden didn’t do commitments. He didn’t like to be tied down. Forever was one of his least favorite words, which was a problem since forever was all Paige was willing to settle for.
The magnetic force between them tugged her toward him and something glimmered in his eyes. For a moment she thought he was going to say the words she had hoped he would say. She wanted him to tell her that she couldn’t be with Brody because she belonged with him, and that he was no longer afraid of forever, or whatever was even longer than that.
But then the glimmer faded, his intimate look faded away and his normal, relaxed expression returned.
“I can’t think of any.”
The ache in her chest intensified until it felt like a vise grip was squeezing her heart. Tears stung her eyes and she squeezed them shut before they could spill out over her cheeks.
Ciera had warned her about this very thing so she wouldn’t get hurt. And it wasn’t like Paige didn’t listen. She had. She knew this was who Aiden was before they started this whole charade. But knowledge wasn’t enough to keep her from falling in love and warnings didn’t make this moment hurt any less.
“You deserve all the happiness in the world. Go and get it.”
She let his words swirl around her like a warm ocean breeze and kept her eyes closed for one more glorious moment while she enjoyed the beautiful dream. Then she felt him back away and she opened her eyes.
She had to dig deep to find her playful tone. “You have been the best fake boyfriend a girl could’ve asked for.” She tossed him the keys.
He caught them and twirled them around his finger. “I only hope it was as good for you as it w
as for me. I’ll see ya back at home.”
He trotted up the stairs and she turned away just in time to let the first tear roll down her cheek.
It would have been polite if he had walked up the stairs with her instead of leaving her alone on the beach in the dark, but he was running out of self-control and on the verge of doing something he would regret. Well, maybe he wouldn’t regret it. It was something he’d been wanting to do for a long time, but it wasn’t what she wanted. And in the end, what was best for her was his ultimate goal.
Aiden stopped at the top of the stairs to look back one last time. She stood in the sand, a few steps away from where they had been sitting, looking out over the ocean. The way the moon lit her and the way her long dress fluttered in the breeze made her look like an angel.
That warm feeling flowed through him again. He had finally fallen in love, something he wasn’t sure would ever happen, and it just happened to be with the one person he couldn’t have. It seemed unfair.
But it was also unfair to her to make her choose. She’d asked him, as a friend, for a favor to help her get back the man she loved. He didn’t want to make her life more complicated. If Brody was who truly made her happy, who was he to stand in their way? No matter how much it hurt to walk away from her.
Heaviness filled him, making even walking sound like and effort, but he forced himself to turn and take a step anyway. It was time to let her go. Time to let her grab the happiness she so deserved.
He climbed into his SUV and started the ignition. He’d arrived here four days ago with a plan, and he felt confident to say the weekend had been one hundred percent successful. Paige got her one true love and Aiden was about to get millions.
This was what he had wanted. His goal was to be free, no strings attached, so he could move on to the next great thing. He was available for whatever adventures awaited just beyond the horizon.
But being free felt much emptier than it did before he knew what it was like to be with the one his heart desired.
Chapter Seventeen
The next morning Paige wheeled her packed suitcase out of her room and left it by the front door. She slumped down on the bar stool next to Ciera.
“I’m going to drive back to Hilltop with Brody.” She announced it the same way she would’ve have announced that she was making a trip to the grocery store or she had to swing by the bank.
“Anything in particular you’re going to talk about during your ten-hour car ride?”
Paige reached for the bowl of grapes and plucked one off. “I don’t know. His favorite place to visit in Europe, how fluent in French he’s become, if we should get back together.”
She popped the grape in her mouth and chewed. They had texted back and forth last night until the wee hours of the morning, but nothing had been decided. She told him it was because she didn’t want to rush into anything. In light of their history, she wanted to make sure they were both making the right choice. It seemed like a responsible thing to say.
Ciera took a bite of her cereal. “Sounds like riveting conversation. I take it Sasha won’t be joining you.”
Paige popped another grape in her mouth. “They broke up.”
Before Ciera could respond, Hadley walked out of her room, her own packed suitcase rolling behind her. “I just had an interesting phone call.” She dropped her bag in the entryway and then walked around the island into the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee.
After her first sip, she leaned back against the counter. “It seems Sasha is looking for someone to drive her to the airport this morning. Would you happen to know anything about that, Paige?”
“They broke up,” Ciera reported and took another bite of her cereal.
“Humm.” Hadley sipped her coffee.
The room got uncomfortably quiet. Paige knew she should tell them everything that was happening, but even after a whole night of lying awake and thinking about it, she still didn’t know what to say. Or how she felt about it.
“Sasha and Brody broke up last night and now he wants to get back together with me.” Again, Paige reported the facts like she was reporting the weather.
Hadley nodded. “And Aiden?”
Ciera paused, spoon midway to her mouth, and stared at Paige.
Aiden. This whole thing would be so much easier if he wasn’t involved. She was supposed to want Brody. Her happily ever after was supposed to be with Brody. That was the plan. Yet the only thing she wanted was the one thing she couldn’t have. Aiden.
“I’m not sure when he’s going home. I think he has his big contract signing today, but he didn’t need me for that. My job is over.”
Her connection with him was over. Sure, she would see him at family holidays and events she went to with Ciera, but would she still do family holidays with Ciera when she was with Brody? For the first time it dawned on her that her entire relationship with Aiden, even as a friend, might be over.
Ciera stared at her one more second, then put her bite in her mouth. “She’s riding home with Brody,” she told Hadley through a mouthful of cereal.
Hadley nodded thoughtfully. “Good. That leaves an open seat in our car to take Sasha to the airport.”
Hadley had driven out to Seacrest with one of the groomsmen and she and Ciera were supposed to ride back with them since Aiden had to stay another day. Now, she was glad she wasn’t going to have to sit in a car with her two best friends answering all of their questions for ten hours. Although, the thought of ten hours in a car with Brody didn’t sound much more appealing. She broke off another grape, hoping the long road trip would bring her clarity.
The phone next to her buzzed. A text from Brody lit up the screen.
“He’s here. I gotta go.”
She hugged each of her friends, then headed outside to meet him. He waited in his car while she struggled down the stairs with all of her luggage. After she loaded her things into the trunk, she climbed into the passenger seat next to him.
“I would’ve helped you with your bags, but I didn’t want to leave the car double parked.” He didn’t look overly torn up about it as he kept his attention on the back-up camera.
“No problem.” She was capable of taking care of herself, after all. She was a strong, independent woman. Still, she wouldn’t have minded if he’d at least offered.
They drove out of town, leaving the beauty of the beach behind them and pulling onto the freeway. They’d been traveling for about forty-five minutes when he finally brought up the subject she had actively been avoiding.
“So, are we back together or what?”
Romantic. It sent chills…well, nowhere.
“I think it’s a little more complicated than that.”
Brody propped his elbow on the door and cocked his head to the side as if he had never considered this response. “Huh. I thought the two of us together was an obvious choice. We make sense.”
She’d thought that, too. For a long time she’d even been convinced of it. But questions had started to form in her mind, ones that probably should’ve formed years ago when they first started dating.
“What do you love about me?” Most of the time she would consider this a needy question. It was one she had seen self-consumed brides ask their doting fiancés when they were looking for a little self-assurance. She’d promised herself, after the second or third time she saw a bride pull this stunt, that she’d never stoop to this level. Although right now, she had a different reason for asking.
“Well…” He shifted in his seat, looking uncomfortable and ill-prepared to answer the question, which didn’t surprise Paige. She was expecting this response.
“You are good at your job.” He paused. She could almost see the wheels turning inside his head. “You’re good at planning stuff.”
His lacking list should’ve caused her spirit to droop, but instead it had the opposite effect. It gave
her confirmation.
“What did you like about us? When we were together?” This time she asked the question with more confidence.
He was quiet for a second. “We had fun together, didn’t we?”
Two weeks ago, she would’ve given the same answer. But as she thought about it over the last week, she wasn’t sure it was true. Maybe they had fun in the beginning, but for the majority of their relationship they were simply comfortable with each other.
She’d missed the distinction at first, confusing acceptance with love. He accepted who she was, she would even be willing to say he loved her as a person, but he wasn’t in love with her. It was possible he never had been.
And she’d never really been in love with him. She loved the consistency of a committed relationship. In a childhood that was anything but stable, she’d never experienced that before. It was like a breath of fresh air to know that kind of commitment existed. It was her first glimpse that the life she’d always dreamed about existed.
And, if she were really being honest, she loved the way he looked. Who wouldn’t? She’d still argue that he was one the most attractive men on the planet, in a pressed and groomed sort of way. There might have been a sense of pride that came from being desired by someone like that. But that wasn’t love.
Paige already knew everything she needed to know. But she kept going, hoping he would catch on before she had to spell it out for him.
“Sasha told me you were happy, too. When you were in Europe?”
Brody shrugged. “It’s easy to fall in love when you’re surrounded by art and culture and good food.”
Funny, she thought it was easy to fall in love when she was in the middle of the ocean surrounded by a pod of dolphins. “How did we get this so wrong?”
From the look on his face, Brody hadn’t caught up with her yet. But he would. She settled into her seat, ready for the long drive ahead of them.